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The Genus Aspidoras

Allan James

his is a synopsis on the 20 (2*added to make 20 from 18, updated
Oct. 2009) species known from this small popular genera of the
Callichthyidae family and the differences between them and the
other members of the mailed catfishes.

The type specimen of the Aspidoras
genera is A. rochai, R. von Ihering 1907 and the very
latest discovery in 2005 wasAspidoras
psammatides,Britto, Lima
& Santos, 2005and
three years before that, Aspidoras velites Britto,
Lima & Moreira, 2002. Below is the list of the 20 known
species of Aspidoras and their exact location when discovered.
Species with
is a link to an image and some information.
is a factsheet on the species.
denotes an article.

As can be gleaned from the above information, the genus Aspidoras
are all to be found in Brazil, and that is where some of the
identification problems arise, as a vast majority of the species
are similarly coloured and marked and if you don't know the
right location/river that they come from you are at a disadvantage
right away as they will arrive from a central exporter in Brazil
with maybe not even the right name attached to them.

Anatomical differences between Aspidoras and Corydoras:

Eye: very small in Aspidoras small in Corydoras.Body shape: smaller size and body shape in Aspidoras
compared to the much more bulkier Corydoras.Head: smaller head shape in Aspidoras compared
with Corydoras. Aspidoras posses a duel fontanel
bone structure in the skull whereas Corydoras have only
the one larger fontanel.

Below are line drawings of the skull formation of both genera
and also a photo for clearer classification.

Table 1. Morphometric characters
in mm to the nearest tenth, and counts of the primary type-specimens
of the species of Aspidoras, 13 species from, Key to the
Species of Aspidoras; Nijssen & Isbrücker, 1976.